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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Have you fed your flying flowers lately?

A Questionmark Butterfly

If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting a butterfly house, you'll notice platters set around with sliced fruits and melons for the butterflies to dine on. Well, I eat a lot of berries and bananas. When I get some that are too ripe or damaged, I feed them to the butterflies.

I rigged a hanging plate using the bottom of an old bird feeder. It's not pretty, but they don't mind.

A Questionmark Butterfly showing off the squiggle and dot that gives it its name.

An Emperor Butterfly - not sure exactly which kind

It may take a day or two for the butterflies to discover the fruit supply, but they will discover it. And the word spreads quickly from there.

Added a few bananas to the strawberries.

And they continued to come.

If you decide to put out a plate of fruit, make certain you place it away from entries to your house as it'll also attract some gnats and flies. And as you clean up the old remnants and add fresh fruit, the butterflies will hitch a ride on your clothing back into the house if you're not careful.

143 comments:

What a wonderful idea! I am definitely going to try this out...and I have the perfect place to hang it already! Thank you SO much for the tip! Your photos are so great - I always love the butterflies and never miss a chance to visit a butterfly house.

SPLENDID idea . . . I stopped at my favorite Nuthatch bird house store a few days ago. She rigged up a container saucer of grape jelly , (thinned with some water) and the butterflies were feeding in delight like yours! Bees too . . .

Your photos of this "food event" are outstanding . . . . I so enjoyed this post . . .

GREAT IDEA! I used to feed them and kind of lost it for that stuff in the last few years from being too busy. When we move, we are going to have a nature area right outside the kitchen window. You can bet I will have some butterfly food!

This is so perfect! I love seeing all those butterflies enjoying your fruit basket. I didn't know they love fruit so much. How do you keep the squirrels away? Those pesky critters take anything remotely food-like for themselves.

Clever idea! We have never tried this but we do have plants that attract and feed the butterflys. Picked the seeds up from Wildseed Farms down in Fredericksburg,Tx. This has certainly been the year for butterflys!

i just said OMG about 10 times as I scrolled down. amazingggggggg. i don't have anything right now but an over ripe banana, will see if bob can rig one out by the staghorn plant. we have lots of butterflies but nothing like this, they come to the flowers, did i say ammmaaaziinnnnn?

Wow! You sure know how to attract the butterflies. I think I am going to have to put out some fruit.By the way, I think you are right that the butterflies I posted are Red Admirals. A couple other people said that too. I had never heard of them before.

OMGosh, these are awesome, Theresa! I love them & I'm certainly gonna be trying this out, for sure! I LOVE THAT LAST PIC, AWESOME CAPTURE!!!

sorry for yelling, but flutterbys/flying flowers are sooo cool! mom got me started calling them flutterbys very young & it just stuck... butterfly makes no sense, does it? butter doesn't fly, the flying flowers flutter by... flutterbys! how'd the come up w/ butterfly? i'll have to check that out

Some sources have erroneously suggested that the excrement of butterflies is thought to resemble butter. The problem with this, of course, is that other than to void excess water, butterflies do not excrete!

Here ye, here ye... I, Tricia of Bluff Area Daily, do hereby & officially, today, May 5th 2012, change the name of the 'butterfly' to flutterby, because that's what they are & it makes more sense! How ya like me now, English word maker people!!! LoL! heheheee =)

T, what a great idea! You certainly have a lot of butterflies around there! Very pretty! I do love butterflies!Doesn't your fruit attract wasps? We have lots of them around here. They try to feed off the Hummer feeders.

Oh, my goodness I'm so glad I came over this evening, I have never seen so many butterflies in one place, it's incredible!!! I shall definitely do this...if we ever get any butterfly weather, it's more like the middle of Winter here :-(

I also just found another of my favourite Whistling Duck posts, what is it about them, they are just so much fun :-)

I was also struck, while enjoying seeing your lovely dogs sunning themselves on an earlier post, just how very lucky they are to live on such a large property, what a wonderful home they have with you Theresa!

Well how cool is that and what great pictures! I've never thought of doing it before and will also give it a try--Everyone is talking about seeing so many butterflies, and I've yet to see them, so maybe doing this, will change all of that! THANKS for a great idea!!

Hmmm, I have never thought about sharing fruit with the butterflies. My rabbit and chickens might NOT like the idea. I like your hot pink boots in the previous post. I have black and white houndstooth and lime green ankle height boots.Blessings,Lorilee

Wow, great idea Theresa. I saw the butterflies being fed fruit in Costa Rica. I might try feeing them the banana soon. Your photos are amazing, you have a lot of butterflies there. Have a great weekend!

Hi TexWisGirl, in a word: Awesome! I had not heard of doing the feeding for butterflies. I think I will try this away from the house, bird feeder and areas that are squirrel-prone. : )Have an excellent day tomorrow and thanks for this tip!

I have visited a butterfly house and there was fruit out for the butterflies but I never thought of trying it here, wonderful idea, thank you.Love your pictures, you sure attracted a lot of butterflies.

Wow, so many butterflies! Thanks for the very interesting information. I hope butterflies in your garden will never forget their work of pollination while devouring themselves into fruits! I like to see them flitting from flower to flower. Butterflies are indeed “flying flowers”.

Holy Hanna! That is amazing. What a great idea. Must try it! We have thousands of Red Admiral butterflies around here. This is terrific. I love the squirrel on the feeder. I figure I ought to label my feeders: one for sq., deer, woodpeckers! We have a new critter, named Fred! ! sigh

This is a brilliant post!!!! I have never thought about doing this....I love it! I've seen it at a butterfly house but I've never thought about doing it here. Something tells me that the birds would have a field day. We have now have several hundred visit everyday here....as for the pics, I really really love these. That is such a great idea. You are so fortunate....and great tips about having it away from the entrance. Working in the butterfly house here in Tucson, I can tell you first hand that the little buggers love to hitch a ride:)

I have never, seen, read, or heard anything about doing this. What a wonderful idea Theresa, and look how many visitors you have in one swift go. I wonder how they get the word out to their peers to come and dine;')~

These photos are truly amazing!!! I can't wait to show them to my husband, who has put out over-ripe bananas to attract more butterflies. Looks like we need to add some strawberries, too!! We saw some pics like yours of the 'overcrowded' feeder (WOW!) in BIRDS & BLOOMS Magazine. You need to submit some of your photos to them!